Labour peer bags £36m in sell-off

ONE of Britain's biggest privately-owned printing companies, Centurion, was snapped up today in a £42m deal, landing its founder and owner a £36m fortune. Lord Evans of Watford - Tony Blair supporter David Evans before becoming a peer in 1998 - is believed to be selling the business to concentrate on his political and other fund-raising works.

Evans, 60 later this year, initially made his fortune out of Labour and the trade unions. Centurion, founded 30 years ago, was their main publisher of campaign material and ballot papers. Other lucrative corporate contracts include BT, BSkyB and Barclaycard but its work for Labour and voluntary organisations such as the National Trust accounts for about 20% of its £55m annual turnover.

In 2001 the company, based in Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, made £3m of operating profit. It forecast growth in turnover of 15% this year.

The buyer is Communisis, a print management company with clients such as British Airways. It also specialises in producing cheque books and tailored, direct-mail campaigns. Chief executive David Jones said: 'Centurion has a proven track record, is a business of some scale and has a blue-chip client base.'

The deal, however, does not include Evans' £18m-a-year contract publishing business, which includes titles such as Modern Labour and the NUT union's The Teacher.

Publicity-shy Evans is reckoned to be one of Blair's key business fixers, a pillar of Labour's 1000 Club of fund-raisers. He has donated £30,000 to the party. Communisis is paying £12m in shares with the rest in cash. Centurion's two senior executives are being locked in with shares while a group of managers will share £5.3m in cash.